List of colleges and universities in metropolitan Boston

This is a list of colleges and universities in metropolitan Boston. Some are located within Boston proper while some are located in neighboring cities and towns, but all are within the 128/95/1 loop. This is closer to the "inner core" definition of Metropolitan Boston, which excludes more suburban North Shore, South Shore and MetroWest regions. Although larger institutions may have several schools, some of which are located in cities other than that of the main campus (such as Harvard Medical School and Tufts University School of Medicine), each institution is listed only once and location is determined by the site of each institution's main campus. Three universities—Harvard and MIT in Cambridge, as well as Tufts in Somerville—make up the "brainpower triangle" of greater Boston, a region defined by universities that have a large local and national influence.^[1]

Map of the land owned or leased by colleges and universities in the Boston area as of 2021^[update]

There are a total of 44 institutions of higher education in the defined region, including three junior colleges, 11 colleges that primarily grant baccalaureate and master's degrees, eight research universities, and 22 special-focus institutions. Of these, 39 are private ventures while five are public institutions (four are run by the state of Massachusetts and one is operated by the city of Quincy).

In 2023, enrollment at these colleges and universities ranged from 33 students at Boston Baptist College to 36,624 students at Boston University. The first to be founded was Harvard University, also the oldest institution of higher education in the United States, while the most recently established institution is Sattler College. All but five of these schools are accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE).

Institutions

Name	Location	Control[2]	Classification[2]	Enrollment[3]	Founded[a]	NECHE-accredited[4]
Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology	Boston	Private	Special-focus	592	1908	2006
Bentley University	Waltham	Private	Master's	5,264	1917	1966
Berklee College of Music	Boston	Private	Special-focus	8,448	1945	1973
Boston Architectural College	Boston	Private	Special-focus	787	1889	1991
Boston Baptist College	Milton	Private	Special-focus	33	1976
Boston College	Newton	Private	Research	15,280	1863	1935
Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis	Brookline	Private	Special-focus	169	1973	1996
Boston University	Boston	Private	Research	36,624	1839	1929
Brandeis University	Waltham	Private	Research	5,302	1948	1953
Bunker Hill Community College	Boston	Public	Associate's	8,545	1973	1976
Cambridge College	Boston	Private	Master's	1,952	1971	1981
Curry College	Milton	Private	Baccalaureate	1,994	1879	1970
Eastern Nazarene College	Quincy	Private	Baccalaureate	458	1900	1943
Emerson College	Boston	Private	Master's	5,670	1880	1950
Emmanuel College	Boston	Private	Baccalaureate	2,059	1919	1933
Fisher College	Boston	Private	Baccalaureate	1,501	1903	1970
Harvard University	Cambridge	Private	Research	30,386	1636	1929
Hebrew College	Newton	Private	Special-focus	177	1921	1955
Hellenic College and Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology	Brookline	Private	Special-focus	199	1937	1974
Hult International Business School	Cambridge	Private	Special-focus	2,003	1964	1976
Labouré College	Milton	Private	Special-focus	717	1892	2005
Lasell University	Newton	Private	Baccalaureate	1,527	1851	1932
Lesley University	Cambridge	Private	Master's	3,134	1909	1952
Longy School of Music of Bard College	Cambridge	Private	Special-focus	318	1915
Massachusetts College of Art and Design	Boston	Public	Special-focus	1,986	1873	1954
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences	Boston	Private	Special-focus	6,321	1823	1974
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Cambridge	Private	Research	11,920	1861	1929
MGH Institute of Health Professions	Boston	Private	Special-focus	1,484	1977	1985
New England College of Optometry	Boston	Private	Special-focus	529	1894	1976
New England Conservatory	Boston	Private	Special-focus	784	1867	1951
New England Law | Boston	Boston	Private	Special-focus	1,083	1938
North Bennet Street School	Boston	Private	Special-focus	151	1881
Northeastern University	Boston	Private	Research	31,159	1898	1940
Quincy College	Quincy	Public	Associate's	2,603	1958	1980
Roxbury Community College	Boston	Public	Associate's	1,631	1973	1981
Saint John's Seminary	Boston	Private	Special-focus	120	1884	1969
Sattler College	Boston	Private	Special-focus	58	2016
Simmons University	Boston	Private	Master's	5,053	1899	1929
Suffolk University	Boston	Private	Master's	6,697	1906	1952
Tufts University	Medford	Private	Research	13,274	1852	1929
University of Massachusetts Boston	Boston	Public	Research	15,810	1964	1972
Urban College of Boston	Boston	Private	Special-focus	728	1993	2001
Wentworth Institute of Technology	Boston	Private	Special-focus	4,018	1904	1967
William James College	Newton	Private	Special-focus	951	1974	1984

See also

• List of colleges and universities in Massachusetts for a full listing of the institutions of higher education in Massachusetts.
• Colleges of Worcester Consortium for Worcester-area colleges.

Explanatory notes

1. Founding year is institutionally determined. It may differ from the institution's charter year, the year it became an institution of higher education, or the year it took its current name.